1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of bowling pinsetter or pinspotter machines. More particularly, the invention pertains to apparatus and mechanisms in said machines that release bowling pins from their support structures or holders during the operation that sets bowling pins onto the bowling lane playing surface in preparation for the first ball of a frame in the game of bowling.
2. Description of Related Art
In the game of bowling, it is necessary to set or place the required number of bowling pins onto the bowling game playing surface in preparation for the first ball of a frame. When this act of setting the bowling pins onto the bowling game surface is completed, the bowling pins are vertically free standing on their assigned locations or spots on the game surface, undisturbed and ready for the first ball to be played.
In the most manual of operations, this can be achieved by simply placing each pin, by hand, onto the playing surface in its assigned location. In early times, pin boys were employed to do this.
Over time, semi-automatic bowling machines were developed and manufactured to reduce operator involvement in the operation that sets bowling pins onto the bowling lane surface. Human intervention was still necessary; the operators placed the bowling pins into the machine and manually operated the mechanism that set the bowling pins onto the lane surface.
The advent of fully automatic pinsetters has resulted in substantially reduced operator involvement as the bowling pinsetting machines are able to perform all of the functions necessary for normal play of the game, including the function that sets and releases the bowling pins onto the lane surface. It is this area of pinsetter operation that is of interest in the context of the present invention.
Bowling pinsetting machines contain bowling pin holders or supports. Depending on manufacturer make and model, said pin holders are called for example, cells, cups, chutes or buckets.
These cells, chutes or buckets are typically mounted on or attached to a structure, sometimes called a table or deck, which has vertical reciprocating motion. A bowling pin distribution system delivers bowling pins to the pin cells, one pin per cell. In the operation that sets the bowling pins onto the bowling game surface, the deck or table descends to the game surface, the pins are released and remain free standing on the game surface as the table or deck returns to its resting position above the game surface.
Bowling pinsetters heretofore have employed rather complex mechanical and electromechanical components and systems to set bowling pins onto the lane surface. This is due to the fact that the actual release of the pins from their cells is controlled and coordinated by mechanical or electromechanical pinsetter components that are external to the pin cells. These external mechanisms and devices control the motion and timing of the pin holders or supports such that they move in unison.
For example, Prior Art FIGS. 1a-1e and 2 show some of the mechanisms of the Brunswick A2 automatic pinsetter. FIGS. 1a-1e show the moving deck assembly and shows that the frame upon which the pin chutes are mounted moves back and forth as a single unit during pin release. FIG. 2 shows some of the connecting mechanisms which contribute to the motion of the moving deck. Not shown are other assembly components and mechanisms that are critical to the action of pin release, for example gear box, clutches, additional cams, cables and the like.
In this sense then, the pin holders or supports can be thought of as passive devices. That is, other than the mechanisms that deliver the pin holders to the lane surface, additional pinsettter machine mechanisms or electromechanical components outside of the pin holders or supports are necessary to actually release the pins onto the lane surface. Thus, pin holders or supports respond to the external components and mechanisms to which they are connected. From the above descriptions it can be seen that there exists a commonality in pin release design among makes and models of bowling pinsetters: that in the act of releasing pins onto the bowling lane surface, the pin holders or supports depend on pinsetter mechanical or electromechanical components outside of the pin supports or holders themselves—the pin release is “not pin cell independent”. That is, when bowling pins are released from their cells or holders, timing, motion and positioning of the pin holders are dependent on pinsetter mechanisms and components that are external to the pin holders.
Bowling pin release mechanisms are controlled by mechanical or electromechanical means such as camshafts, switches, cables, levers, linkages and the like in such a way that the pin cells, cups or chutes move or operate in a coordinated fashion in response to pinsetter mechanisms or electromechanical components that are external to the pin cells themselves.
There is a need in the art, therefore, for a bowling pin release mechanism which is pin cell independent.